


Little Heroes

by liketolaugh



Series: Sharing Problems [1]
Category: D.Gray-man, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Characters Making Friends, First Meetings, Gen, They have an understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 18:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4490439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some heroes are big. Others are a little bit smaller. Allen and Edward meet when both of them get captured going after the same man, and they instantly begin conspiring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Heroes

Allen moaned softly as the world faded in around him. Hard stone pressed against his side, and his shoulders ached from the awkward position they were forced into, with his hands being tied behind his back, rubbed raw by the tough rope. He winced.

"Hey! Old man hair!"

Allen frowned lightly and rolled over to face the voice, wincing again and opening his eyes to look at them. "My name is  _Allen,"_ he complained halfheartedly.

The boy his eyes landed on looked about Allen's age – twelve years old, now – with bright gold hair and brighter gold eyes, a scowl on his face as he tugged uselessly at the chains keeping his arms above his head, too far apart to even touch.

"Yeah, yeah," the other boy dismissed impatiently. "Listen, the guy left about half an hour ago, said some shit about stuff to do. Whatever. You know who he is, right?"

Allen grimaced slightly; he and Cross had come into town on the word of an informant, because of akuma being made by a series of kidnapping-murders.

Of children from eight to fourteen years old. Allen really didn't understand people sometimes.

The boy half-grinned, more of a smirk, really. "If you're gonna freak," he added, taking Allen's grimace for confirmation, "say so now."

Allen squirmed slightly, distress flickering in his eyes, but at the boy's words he took a deep breath, stilled, and, with a hint of effort, flashed the boy a confident smile. "I'm fine. Any ideas for, um, getting out of here?" He glanced around the stone cell and made a face.

The boy grinned back, a grin that bordered on feral, but was also distinctly bright. "Great. How do you feel about getting out of those ropes?"

Allen smiled.

Five minutes later, Allen was biting his lip, brow furrowed in concentration as he slowly wriggled free of his bindings. "What's your name?" he asked the boy as he worked.

"Edward Elric," the boy answered promptly. "The Fullmetal Alchemist."

Allen's eyes sparked with recognition and he glanced up to Ed to give a small smile. "Oh. I've heard of you. A lot of people really like you – they're grateful for everything you've done for them."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Ed's mouth. "That so."

Allen finally freed himself from the ropes and placed them aside, making another face.

"What now?" he asked. "We still need to take care of the guy." He looked at Ed, silver eyes intent on gold, head tipped slightly.

Ed raised an eyebrow. "We?"

Allen flushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean, if you don't want to…"

"You're not fighting," Ed interrupted, gold eyes deadly serious. "I'm getting you out and then  _I'll_ take out the guy."

Allen's eyes flashed. "You don't have to," he said, painfully polite. "I'm doing this as a favor; it's become my responsibility."

Ed yanked at the chains angrily. "This is my  _job!_ Just tell 'em it's taken care of, Monochrome!" He scowled. "Why would they ask  _you,_ anyway?"

Allen barely had to think to push aside his anger and offer instead a determined look, mixed with scarcely visible hurt that was a little harder to squash. "I'm going to be an exorcist," he said firmly. "This kind of thing, it makes akuma. That's why Master and I were sent here."

Well, that and Cross needed information, and Madam Christmas was the best there was. Of course, Madam Christmas never did anything for free.

Ed's eyes sparked with recognition, and he tilted his head slightly, studying Allen anew. "An exorcist, huh?"

While Ed had received the standard military briefing on exorcists and the Black Order ("Don't you dare get mixed up with them, Fullmetal. I mean it. They deal with stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole."), he'd only met one once, when he was eight. She'd looked about ten years old, green hair, dim violet eyes and an empty smile, with a kind voice and a shy demeanor. She'd only stayed for a night; she'd just been passing through. Ed had never even learned her name.

Of course, Ed hadn't recognized her for what she was until years later.

Allen nodded, gaze hard as steel.

"I have to help," he said quietly. "I promised."

Ed didn't think Allen was talking about the favor, and he grinned, feral again. "Yeah? So did I."

He wasn't talking about his orders, either.

They studied each other for a moment, and then, in unison, said, "Fine."

Ed grinned at Allen, and Allen smiled back.

A moment later, Ed frowned and pulled at his chains again.

"Damn," he muttered. I'm not sure what to do about these." He scowled and trailed off into muttering, frowning thoughtfully.

Allen, though, stood and crossed over to Ed and his chains. Ed ignored him as his brow furrowed in deep concentration and he slowly, very slowly, traced an invisible design on the wall, muttering a soundless contrast to Ed's low tones.

Seemingly satisfied, Allen removed his finger from the wall and brought his hand to his mouth to bite it, hard.

That caught Ed's attention; he stared at Allen like the other boy was a lunatic. "What the  _hell?"_

Allen smiled at him and, using the blood flowing from his hand, meticulously traced something Ed quickly identified as a simple transmutation circle on the wall.

"This is iron, right?" Allen asked nervously.

Ed tugged absently at the chain again, barely sparing it a glance before he gave Allen a suspicious look. "Yes…"

Allen smiled and placed both of his hands on the small array, concentrating hard. After a few long seconds, the array began to glow obediently in response, and a few seconds after that, the chain disintegrated.

Allen let out a long, relieved breath and took his hands back off the array, smiling tiredly.

"You know alchemy?" Ed asked, slightly surprised, absently clapping his now-free flesh hand to his still-bound automail and transmuting the other chain into a long, sturdy spear.

"No," Allen admitted sheepishly. "But Master and I once stayed with one for a few months, and she taught me a few basic transmutations."

"Like how to  _disintegrate iron?"_ Ed asked skeptically, rubbing his flesh wrist.

Allen flushed. "Well, actually, she taught me how to, um,  _transmute_ iron. But I was never any good at alchemy." He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. "She'd kill me if she saw that. I haven't been practicing enough."

Privately, Allen thought that Izumi Curtis was one of the scariest supporters the Order had.

Ed shuddered. "I don't even want to  _think_ about what Teacher would do if I got that bad," he admitted, unaware that they were thinking of the same woman.

Allen half-smiled. "But you  _won't."_

True.

A thud from somewhere in the hall made both of them freeze, and for a moment, both of them fell silent.

Eventually, both of them straightened, and Ed held out his right fist to Allen, a determined gleam in his golden eyes. Allen bumped it with his own left, expression resolved.

_Because we have to._

_Because we_ promised.

Ed grinned, and Allen smiled, and both of them ran into the hallway.

By the end of the day, Ed would return to meet with Al's scolding, and Allen to Cross' drunken orders to find money, but neither would bother the boys quite as much as they normally did.

And somehow, they knew they'd meet again.

Their lives were funny like that.


End file.
